VALORANT’s professional scene reached an entirely new level in 2023 with the official franchising of the tier-one circuit, making even more opportunities possible for the world’s best players.
From historic rises to meteoric falls, teams at all levels of the VCT wrote their own storylines in 2023, but at the end of the day, five memorable teams make our list of the best of the year. These teams battled through the initial kinks of franchising and still managed to come out on top.
Through adversity, our top five teams triumphed in 2023 and can look forward to also making an impact in 2024. As we reflect on the first year of the franchised VCT leagues, let’s take some time to appreciate the top teams on our list.
The top five VALORANT teams of 2023
5) Team SMG
APAC’s Team SMG was a dark horse throughout the entire 2023 Game Changers season. Despite being a relatively unknown name in the Game Changers scene coming into the year, the Singaporean organization had an incredible run in their home region that culminated in a fourth-place finish at the 2023 VCT Game Changers championship.
Game Changers, a competitive circuit for players of marginalized genders, has continued to grow competitively since the beginning of competitive VALORANT, and though the circuit has been dominated by teams from the Americas and Europe so far, Team SMG is changing that narrative. With a deep-rooted history of esports in East and Southeast Asia, a strong showing from a female roster is exactly what the region needs.
The most impressive statistic Team SMG boasts from 2023 is their perfect record in the APAC region. Through the entire 2023 season, the team only lost two games—both at the Game Changers Championship in São Paulo—against G2 Gozen and Team Liquid Brazil.
The perfect regional record across the entire season speaks volumes to not only Team SMG’s raw talent but also their collective mental strength. The Game Changers season follows a different, elongated schedule compared to the VCT, meaning players have had matches from March until December with longer breaks in between each split.
The team’s breakout moment this year was when they accidentally locked in a four-duelist composition plus a Cypher, played by their usual duelist player Odella “enerii” Abraham. The team later revealed that this chaotic composition was actually a mistake, yet the team stuck together and won the map with a 13-3 scoreline. This is just another testament to their strong mentality that should bring them more success in 2024.
4) Paper Rex
There’s no way anyone could have followed the VCT this year without hearing about all the incredible storylines coming out from Singapore’s Paper Rex. Aside from their accomplishments on paper, which include winning the inaugural season of the VCT Pacific league and finishing in second place at the VCT Championships, the team’s resilience off-stage also shone through.
The adversity started for PRX after qualifying for Masters Tokyo in June, where visa issues left them without their star duelist Ilya “something” Petrov, who would later go on to win the VCT Pacific finals MVP title. Without something in the lineup, the team was left playing with their sixth man, Patiphan “cgrs” Porsi. PRX made an incredible run in Tokyo with entirely new compositions, showcasing their flexibility and expertise across the game.
PRX also got the better end of one of the VCT’s best rivalries this year, the consistent battle between PRX and DRX. The two teams consistently battled for the top spot in the Pacific League while also having a close bond through the entire season. Eventually, PRX would get the best of DRX in the team’s close best-of-five matchup that went late into the night in Seoul, ending with PRX up 3-2
The culmination of the 2023 season was undoubtedly PRX’s advancement to the VCT Championship grand finals, where they faced off against North America’s Evil Geniuses. Though PRX would lose this match, their hard work and discipline were evident.
Moving into 2024, PRX will face even more adversity as one of their foundational players, Wang “Jinggg” Jing Jie will no longer be on the roster due to the completion of his mandatory military service. The team has picked up Cahya “Monyet” Nugraha as their new starting man and look forward to getting to grips quickly next year.
3) Evil Geniuses
This list wouldn’t be complete without naming the 2023 VCT Champions. Evil Geniuses was the true underdog story from this year that completed the full arc and lifted a trophy at the end of it all.
At the beginning of VCT 2023, EG was one of the most heavily criticized teams in the professional circuit. Not only did the team have more players signed to their main roster than nearly any other across all three VCT regions, but the strategy and direction of coach Christine “potter” Chi were constantly questioned, and many overlooked the potential the team possessed.
After a rough start to their 2023 season that saw the team barely qualify for Masters Tokyo, EG shot out of a cannon. With new star players beginning to emerge from the shadows of North America’s tier-two scene, it seemed like Potter finally got the right group of players to click with each other at the perfect time.
The final roster, anchored by in-game leader Kelden “Boostio” Pupello and propelled forward by Max “Demon1” Mazanov, bulldozed their way through the VCT Champions tournament in Los Angeles, cheering alongside American fans the whole way.
Unfortunately, the organization has had numerous internal problems since the team’s historic overall victory in the 2023 VCT season, and the EG roster as we know it will not be staying together for 2024.
2) Fnatic
Despite failing to win either the VCT EMEA league title or even make it to the grand finals at VCT Champions, Fnatic was the most consistent team across the 2023 VCT and deserves the second-place spot on our list for that reason alone. In 2023, the team remarkably only lost three games but they came at the most crucial moments, which the team has attributed to the packed franchised VCT schedule.
Fnatic started the year strong by winning the LOCK//IN tournament in São Paulo, where the expertise of their in-game leader, Jake “Boaster” Howlett was on full display. The team boasts one of the best all-around rosters in the VCT, with players who each fill distinct niches and individually are regarded as the top in each agent role.
With this excellent play also comes expertise and experience that Fnatic brings across several other competitive titles, making them a roster that should always be feared. After winning LOCK//IN, the team had a perfect record in the first half of the VCT season and breezed past the raging EG to win at Masters Tokyo.
A match that now, looking back, seems like a fluke that left Fnatic just out of reach of the VCT EMEA title, losing to Team Liquid in their only defeat of the year so far. Aside from Team Liquid, the only other thorn in Fnatic’s side was Brazil’s LOUD, who they lost to twice in the Champions tournament to finish a disappointing fourth place.
Fnatic will likely be back as their usual selves in 2024 with a few minimal coaching changes, and should still find success in a tried and true roster that has proven they can keep up with the VCT’s new innovative strategies.
1) Version1/Shopify Rebellion
Our top team of 2023 is the VCT Game Changers-winning Shopify Rebellion, a roster that was formerly signed to Version1 until late in the year. Of all the teams across the main VCT leagues, this team is a true masterpiece, a roster pieced together bit by bit using the very best talent Game Changers has to offer.
The team is, unsurprisingly, headlined by Melanie “meL” Capone, regarded as perhaps the best player in VCT Game Changers history. MeL and her teammate Alexis “alexis” Guarrasi are the two winningest players in North American Game Changers history, starting with their dominance as a part of Cloud9 White in 2022. To bolster the already sensational performances of meL and alexis are Nicole “Noia” Tierce, Sarah “sarah” Simpson, and finally Ava “florescent” Eugene.
Despite the praise for players like Demon1 and ZmjjKK, florescent is undoubtedly our breakout star of 2023. A player who, at just 17, has already made a huge mark on the VALORANT scene, florescent has been working her way up through various tiers of competition for years until she was finally old enough to make her VCT Game Changers debut.
Florescent broke the record for the most kills in a LAN tournament across both the VCT and Game Changers, recording 112 kills at the Game Changers championship in December. The previous record was held by Demon1, who netted 101 kills earlier in the year.
What makes Shopify Rebellion’s final win so special is the amount of adversity the team faced to eventually have the trophy in their hands. MeL tested positive for COVID just before the team’s grand finals match against Team Liquid Brazil and had to play the game and lead her team from a separate room. Though Shopify pulled through to win the match and the Game Changers title, meL wasn’t able to celebrate with her teammates on stage. After narrowly missing the title in 2022 with Cloud9 White and also facing a variety of other rumors and incidents in 2023, the win was bittersweet for meL.
Shopify gave us the best ending to 2023 we could have asked for, and they sit on top of our best teams of 2023 list. We look forward to all the fun of VCT 2024 with new and familiar faces alike.
